March 21, 2018 :: Featuring Bruckner, Beethoven, Bernstein, and more… The 2018–19 Season is here, and highlights include: Bernstein — A centennial celebration of the American icon Beethoven — With award-winning pianist and audience favorite Charlie Albright Movie Magic — Animated classic The Snowman with score performed live with the Pacific Boychoir, plus a program that showcases the genius of American composer John Williams Piazzolla — Concertmaster Jennifer...
March 8, 2018 :: What additional treasures might exist had Mozart survived beyond 35? And what iconic works *wouldn’t* we have, if other great composers had died young like him? When I am… completely myself, entirely alone… or during the night when I cannot sleep, it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and...
March 6, 2018 :: An agricultural engineer, a budding neuroscientist, and ripped pants during a performance: We learned some of the inner secrets of the talented stars of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music who will be featured in our MOZART REQUIEM concerts this month. Esther Tonea, soprano Esther Tonea, soprano 1. Where are you from? I usually say Buford, Georgia, but I...
January 17, 2018 :: Violin virtuoso Alexi Kenney, comes home to the Bay Area to debut with the California Symphony, January 20 & 21, 2018, at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. Alexi Kenney on Bruch’s Violin Concerto №1: “It’s is one of my personal favorites and also really a staple of our repertoire. It has everything...
January 10, 2018 :: Maestro Donato Cabrera’s trip down memory lane reveals a bold choice for a young conductor. Now and Then: Music Director Donato Cabrera at the podium at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek (left) and at the University of Nevada, Reno in the 1990s (right). Our upcoming PASTORAL BEETHOVEN concerts include a nostalgic selection for California Symphony...
January 9, 2018 :: We take a closer look at the wildly ambitious 1808 concert which debuted no less than two symphonies, a piano concerto, and a new choral piece (plus a selection of other favorites) in a frigid, four-hour long musical marathon. On a freezing cold winter’s night in Vienna, December 22, 1808, one of the most legendary...
January 3, 2018 :: “How he dealt with this deafness is one of the great stories of humanity, not just of music.” — Music Director Donato Cabrera The Arcadian of Pastoral State by Thomas Cole (on left). Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler (on right). By California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera Imagine directing an orchestra you can’t hear. Or playing a...
:: The California Symphony and Music Director Donato Cabrera’s first program of the New Year kicks off with two performances of PASTORAL BEETHOVEN at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek on Saturday January 20th at 8pm and Sunday January 21st at 4pm.
December 7, 2017 :: Nathaniel Stookey (right) composed the music for The Composer is Dead, with text by Lemony Snicket. Illustrations Copyright © 2009 by Carson Ellis, used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. The California Symphony recently caught up with Bay Area composer Nathaniel Stookey, who composed the music for The Composer is Dead, with text by Lemony Snicket,...
December 4, 2017 :: We give you the inside scoop on what to expect when you attend A LEMONY SNICKET HOLIDAY, the California Symphony’s holiday program. A LEMONY SNICKET HOLIDAY features The Composer is Dead by Nathaniel Stookey, with text by Lemony Snicket. — Illustrations copyright © 2009 by Carson Ellis, used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. There’s nothing quite like the...
